As a child, Deborah Blau was traumatized by being a victim of anti-Semitism at school and at summer camp. To escape reality, she creates her own safe world called the kingdom of Yr. This world starts out as a beautiful, safe place to hide but as life goes on, its leaders become dictators of her actions. 16-year old Deborah always knew something was wrong with her. She wasn't like other girls her age who enjoyed each other's company and playing games together. She felt alone and feared the world. Her parents, Esther and Jacob Blau, ignored these signs and kept going on with life until Deborah attempted suicide. After slitting her wrists, her parents finally brought her to a mental hospital where she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. From then on she attends daily therapy with her doctor, Dr. Fried. Together for the next three years, they try and find the answer to her illness. Along the way, she befriends other patients there and nurses that help her, in a way, find reality. Each session with Dr. Fried and what happens in the ward gives her the want each day to find reality. With the help of her doctor, she finds her innner strength to keep moving forward and fight her fears of the world. Throughout the three years of being in the hospital, she experiences setbacks, days where she's finally starting to see the colors of the world, and then she goes back again. Finally, though, she realizes she is one of the "them" (real people in reality) and that she really does belong in the reality of the world. She finds that with a little hard work she'll make it in the world even though she realizes that it's not a fair or easy place to live in. In the end, she finds she'd rather fight her way through life rather then spend it dying in the ward. At 19-years old, she recieves her GED and is able to go to college. With the help of others and her inner self, she is able to conquer her fears of reality and live her life knowing reality is no rose garden.
Why Is This Book Outstanding?
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden is an outstanding book for many reasons. First, how often is a person able to read a book from the view point of a teenager with a mental illness? This book paints a believable picture of how a girl of 16, with a mental illness, would look at the world and feel the things she felt. For people without a mental illness, the world is just a normal place that you have to fight through, but are still able to live in; but for a patient at a mental institution, the world is a frightening place that people won't normally see as they do. It takes a great amount of courage and self-perseverance to overcome the fear and setbacks that the young girl endured in this book. The author shows the readers how hard things really are for a patient to come back to the real world instead of just telling them that that's what it seems like from a spectador's point of view. Another reason why this book is outstanding is because it doesn't just give one person's viewpoint. The author is able to give the main character's parents' viewpoint of self-doubt, shame, and anger at the situation and how they had handled things. Joanne Greenberg also shows us the staff of the hospital's viewpoint of the hardships they endure while working with patients there. This book also gives the reader in depth detail to what the character is feeling and seeing. Normally, people have no problem seeing things in their normal dimensions and color; but this book gives great detail at what a person with a mental illness really sees. The shades of grey and everything moving together without any depth really gives the reader a feel for what the person is seeing and why they act they way the do sometimes. Another reason why this is a good book is because it gives the whole story of the character and their history. Greenberg tells us why Deborah Blau has her illness, why she was put in a hospital, and then takes the reader on the character's long journey to healthiness. The author shows us how Deborah's feelings on things are changing and how her ideas about the world change throughout the book. There are plenty more reasons on why this is an outstanding book but the rest are up to the other readers to find while they read this wonderfully, written book.
Would I Recommend This Book?
If someone were to ask me about recommending this book to them, I would tell them to definatley read it! I liked how I was able to read from different viewpoints; especially the patient's viewpoint when she's right around my age. Even if the reader isn't 16-years old, they'll still enjoy the story of how a young girl is able to find her way to reality. I also liked how the author, Joanne Greenberg, gave emotion to the character that we were able to grip onto also. This was the first book I'd read that was about a person with a mental illness that was from their viewpoint and I really enjoyed it. If the person asking about the book likes to read books that are able to really happen and are given the detail to feel like they're actaully there in the hospital experiencing the emotions the character does, they will enjoy I Never Promised You A Rose Garden just as much as I have.
Work Cited:
Greenberg, Joanne. I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. Signet, 1964.
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
By: Joanne Greenberg
252 pgs.As a child, Deborah Blau was traumatized by being a victim of anti-Semitism at school and at summer camp. To escape reality, she creates her own safe world called the kingdom of Yr. This world starts out as a beautiful, safe place to hide but as life goes on, its leaders become dictators of her actions. 16-year old Deborah always knew something was wrong with her. She wasn't like other girls her age who enjoyed each other's company and playing games together. She felt alone and feared the world. Her parents, Esther and Jacob Blau, ignored these signs and kept going on with life until Deborah attempted suicide. After slitting her wrists, her parents finally brought her to a mental hospital where she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. From then on she attends daily therapy with her doctor, Dr. Fried. Together for the next three years, they try and find the answer to her illness. Along the way, she befriends other patients there and nurses that help her, in a way, find reality. Each session with Dr. Fried and what happens in the ward gives her the want each day to find reality. With the help of her doctor, she finds her innner strength to keep moving forward and fight her fears of the world. Throughout the three years of being in the hospital, she experiences setbacks, days where she's finally starting to see the colors of the world, and then she goes back again. Finally, though, she realizes she is one of the "them" (real people in reality) and that she really does belong in the reality of the world. She finds that with a little hard work she'll make it in the world even though she realizes that it's not a fair or easy place to live in. In the end, she finds she'd rather fight her way through life rather then spend it dying in the ward. At 19-years old, she recieves her GED and is able to go to college. With the help of others and her inner self, she is able to conquer her fears of reality and live her life knowing reality is no rose garden.
Why Is This Book Outstanding?
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden is an outstanding book for many reasons. First, how often is a person able to read a book from the view point of a teenager with a mental illness? This book paints a believable picture of how a girl of 16, with a mental illness, would look at the world and feel the things she felt. For people without a mental illness, the world is just a normal place that you have to fight through, but are still able to live in; but for a patient at a mental institution, the world is a frightening place that people won't normally see as they do. It takes a great amount of courage and self-perseverance to overcome the fear and setbacks that the young girl endured in this book. The author shows the readers how hard things really are for a patient to come back to the real world instead of just telling them that that's what it seems like from a spectador's point of view. Another reason why this book is outstanding is because it doesn't just give one person's viewpoint. The author is able to give the main character's parents' viewpoint of self-doubt, shame, and anger at the situation and how they had handled things. Joanne Greenberg also shows us the staff of the hospital's viewpoint of the hardships they endure while working with patients there. This book also gives the reader in depth detail to what the character is feeling and seeing. Normally, people have no problem seeing things in their normal dimensions and color; but this book gives great detail at what a person with a mental illness really sees. The shades of grey and everything moving together without any depth really gives the reader a feel for what the person is seeing and why they act they way the do sometimes. Another reason why this is a good book is because it gives the whole story of the character and their history. Greenberg tells us why Deborah Blau has her illness, why she was put in a hospital, and then takes the reader on the character's long journey to healthiness. The author shows us how Deborah's feelings on things are changing and how her ideas about the world change throughout the book. There are plenty more reasons on why this is an outstanding book but the rest are up to the other readers to find while they read this wonderfully, written book.
Would I Recommend This Book?
If someone were to ask me about recommending this book to them, I would tell them to definatley read it! I liked how I was able to read from different viewpoints; especially the patient's viewpoint when she's right around my age. Even if the reader isn't 16-years old, they'll still enjoy the story of how a young girl is able to find her way to reality. I also liked how the author, Joanne Greenberg, gave emotion to the character that we were able to grip onto also. This was the first book I'd read that was about a person with a mental illness that was from their viewpoint and I really enjoyed it. If the person asking about the book likes to read books that are able to really happen and are given the detail to feel like they're actaully there in the hospital experiencing the emotions the character does, they will enjoy I Never Promised You A Rose Garden just as much as I have.
Work Cited:
~Page Created By: Sam Seliga
~Last Edited: Jan. 28, 2008